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Being the main thing she turns to when things aren’t going right for her, or when they are going just fine, D’Elia has found art to be the reason of who she sees herself as today.

“I have been doing art for about 10 years. In the beginning, I didn’t enjoy art as much, but over time, it became part of who I was. During bad times it would be a thing that I could express my emotions or myself onto paper and overtime it just molded my identity to what it is now,” D’Elia said.

The types of art D’Elia does are surrealism and realism, or a combination of both, through paintings and sketches. Other arts she’s familiar working with are 3D models, ceramics and creative writing.

“My style just meshes the two. In the context, I just do controversial things sometimes, or things symbolic to me,” D’Elia said. “It just personally expresses my emotion. I enjoy doing it, it’s what style is most comfortable to me.”

As of right now, D’Elia is in art 4, planning to take AP art her senior year of high school. While her level and knowledge of art grows every day and every school year, D’ Elia previously found art just to be another pencil and paper activity.

“It started with simple doodles in class and from then on people suggested me to go into art classes and perfect that, and I did and it brought me to where I am now,” D’Elia said.

In her middle school years at Thomas Harrison Middle School, it was also a past art teacher that she would consider a big inspiration.

“Ms. Thompson was really the one to give me my drive and [helped me] delve into arts. She told me that I had potential and that I could harness that talent and I could be somebody who I wanted to be someday… It really brought me a long way,” D’Elia said.

D’Elia has found herself investing the majority of not only her free time, but any of her time into or around art. Whether it’s a simple sketch of offering advice to students in beginner art classes, D’Elia can say art has taken over multiple aspects of her life.

“I surround myself with art every day. I visit art galleries, I help out the art students, my sister wants me to teach her how to do art and I do that with her. I invest a lot of my money into my artwork. I always buy canvases and paints,” D’Elia said.

D’Elia sells artwork to others locally around the area, including teachers and also does commission with her artwork for some of the students at school. Not only can D’Elia say that she’s already distributing her art and exploring new techniques in high school, but she can also say that she wants to do it for the rest of her life.

“It’s really become what I wanted to do with my life,” D’Elia said. “I want it to be my career.”